402 The Commercial Pi^oducts of the Sea. 



CHAPTER III. 



PEARLS AND THE PEARL FISHERIES. 



Great demand for pearls — Mode of formation — Large and valuable pearls — 

 Shells on which they are formed — Statistics of the Ceylon pearl fisheries — 

 Mode of prosecuting the fishery — Classification of pearls — Value of pearls 

 imported into England — Persian Gulf fishery — Panama fishery — Pacific 

 fisheries — Pearls from river mussels — Celebrated pearls. 



Having treated of mother-of-pearl and its applications, we 

 are necessarily led next to the consideration of the much- 

 prized pearls themselves, which are held in such high esti- 

 mation for personal decoration by ladies, and even by the 

 stronger-minded sex in the East, where Indian princes are 

 radiant in pearls, and the trappings of their elephants are 

 profusely covered with these gems of the ocean. The 

 native princes, in their interview a few years ago with the 

 Viceroy of India at Barwal, had their elephants beautifully 

 caparisoned with masses of pearls on the head. Holkar 

 had his chest completely covered with strings of pearls and 

 emeralds. This much-admired ornament is appreciated 

 in all parts of Eastern Asia, from the Himalayas to the 

 Pacific, and from Manchuria to the Straits, being in requisi- 

 tion for the decorations of shoes, girdles, earrings, neck- 

 laces, and head-dresses, and for the embellishment of 

 popular divinities. The frequent mention of pearls in 

 Chinese history shows the value set upon them by the 



